Connely
A forest sprite of the Sea Breeze tribe under the protection of a white hare. A prolific ranger known among forest sprites for her instinct and reflexes. Unleashes her arrows with true conviction, and is fleet of foot in retreat. During her formative years, she adopted an unwavering sense of morality, causing her to shy from human contact. —Card bio 'Biography' Background (They're having so much fun over there... B-But I mustn't join them! Rules are rules. This is as close as I'm allowed to get near humans. —Connely's thoughts, Tales of Bonds: Rabbit Hole "Humans are debased creatures: materialistic and Nature's enemy..." (How many times did I hear those words as a child?) "Humans never listen to reason. They ruin all that they touch." (Making contact with humans, leaving the settlement... How many laws am I breaking right now? But I wasn't the first to leave that stuffy place. That was my best friend Lindsey.) —Connely's thoughts mixed with flashbacks to her parents' lectures, Tales of Bonds: Rabbit Hole Growing up, Connely was taught by her parents to fear humans—that they were a bad species not to be mixed up with. As Lindsey puts it in Connely's first character quest, "'Don't go near humans' is what they say. Everyone's taught humans are dangerous creatures." How can I be friends with humans when I don't even have the courage to apologize to my friend? —Connely to herself, Tales of Bonds: Like a Running Rabbit (She left me behind, running away without me... All this time I've harbored this feeling of resentment... "Traitor!" I thought. But...the truth is, I always understood her reasons. It was me who put a distance between us. I knew her pain. I knew it was difficult for a halfling to live in the settlement. I'm the one who abandoned her after her mother passed, when she needed me most. I was the only one who could have been there for her... I'm to blame for her leaving, no one else. But that doesn't make it easy for me to let go of these feelings...) "Why are you back, huh? You're the one who wanted to run away, aren't you?" "But—" "You're just like them, a filthy half-blood!" (I can't believe that's what I wanted to tell her at the cemetery. What kind of monster am I? The truth is, I'd be happy just to talk to her again. —Connely's internal monologue about Lindsey, Tales of Bonds: As kids, Lindsey and Connely were best friends. They used to play around, many different games, including games of tag using practice bows. However, after Lindsey's mother passed away, and she decided to leave their tribe, Connely grew to resent her. She felt the same urge to leave their settlement, but was too afraid after all she'd grown up hearing about the humans outside her village. Present In her Tales of Bonds character quests, Connely is stalking the gang—which includes Lindsey and Barienna this time around—out of curiosity, and though she may be spry, and believes she isn't seen, the gang quickly catches on to her antics, and try to coax her out. For a while she observes them, all the while internally lamenting her past decisions that led her to stay behind in her settlement and let the distance grow between her and her former best friend Lindsey. Connely hilariously joins in on the gang's conversation and dining one day, chiming in during stories and helping herself to their food. When she and the gang realize she's there, doing what she's doing, Connely panics, leaves some money to compensate for the food she ate, and dashes away with the speed of her white hare guardian. She isn't too afraid to pitch in and fight, however, and the desire to help the humans as well as Lindsey in their battles against monsters grows as she sees Lindsey's happiness fighting alongside the so-called "dangerous" creatures known as people. Connely's drive is finally pushed to the limit when Lindsey is surrounded, and knocked to the ground by monsters. "No, I don't want her to die... I haven't even said I'm sorry yet!" Connely says, and Pirika finally finds herself in range to talk to Connely, but she's not listening—she's too busy fending off the monsters homing in on her best friend. However, the pitfalls that have trapped several of the gang already manage to trap Connely, and she's stuck with the Hero and Barienna. They insist on helping her out, and Pirika urges Connely to forget about her fears of humans and let the Hero help her out. Connely is scared at the thought of touching a human's hand, but Barienna's words of encouragement, to be the one to save Lindsey, strike a chord. Pirika has had it, and she chimes in: "And you're gonna give up standing up because of a puny reason like that?" Connely mentions the laws, to which Phoena responds, "Connely, you must think for yourself, not just blindly follow such a law. You have to think and choose yourself what you have to do. And if you decide that you still dislike us, then we will have to accept that. But you can't change yourself unless you come out of your hole!" Pirika again, "You have to look at the world with your own eyes!" Connely lets it sink in, thinking back on her friendship with Lindsey, and finally vocalizes her wish to go save her. "I don't want to have regrets anymore!" She booms, and yells after Lindsey as she begins striking down monsters in an ambush. Lindsey is surprised to see Connely has come to save her, and Connely finally apologizes with heartfelt emotion for all the things she's said, the feelings she's hurt. Lindsey forgives her easily, saying, "Didn't I tell you? I want to play with you again." Connely confesses that she had always wanted to stay with her best friend longer than she did, and that she didn't want to hate her. She says she knew deep down that what the "grown-ups" had told her was wrong, however, she'd gotten jealous seeing Lindsey having so much fun with her new friends in the Volunteer Army. The two agree to be friends again, and in the last Tales of Bonds for Connely, the two are seen playing games that only they know, at speeds and with levels of whimsy only they can achieve. And most importantly, Connely puts to bed for good her fears of humans by asking and being accepted into the Volunteer Army. 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